Spain pledges switch-over on time

Spain's analogue switch off will take place as expected on April 3, 2010, a government minister has asserted.

Francisco Ros, State Secretary for Telecommunications and the Information Society referred to the recently-taken US decision to put off its own switch-off until June from this month. That would not happen in Spain, the minister said.

Ros reminded observers that almost 100% of Spain's population receive TV through terrestrial waves in spite of the fact cable is well penetrated in the country.

That should avoid the problems in the US, where it is largely a disadvantaged sector of society watching terrestrial signals.